...Zimbabwe from the townships of Bulawayo to rural areas in Mugabe’s home province of Mashonaland West and businessmen’s haunts in Harare, I found that every person I spoke to was demanding change. Not one wanted the 84-year-old Mugabe to stay on after 27 years in power....
Mugabe may have produced an entire nation of millionaires but, with Z$1m now worth just a penny, he looks set for a crushing defeat. Not only is he facing a third challenge from Morgan Tsvangirai, the popular leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), but last month his former ally Simba Makoni joined the race, splitting the ruling Zanu-PF.
“The mood is such, there’s no way Mugabe can win legitimately,” said Tsvangirai. “How can he with 90% unemployment, his record of beating people and demolishing their houses, and when he’s an 84-year-old who wants to govern till he’s 90?”
Reports from human rights activists have predicted a flawed outcome in the country’s first simultaneous polls for president, parliament and councils.
Among the concerns cited are boundary changes, irregularities in registration, political intimidation and violence, lack of access to state-controlled media and partisan security officials....
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